Notes to My 12-year-old Self

You will be believed.

You are not broken.

These are messages a much younger me needed to hear, and didn’t, until far later in my life.

For twelve year old me, and for others in similar situations, I wrote those feelings into my own book, Riverland — a portal fantasy about domestic violence for middle grade readers.

Riverland is about sisters who learn to become the heroes of their own story. Who begin to understand that there is good anger and bad anger, and that learning the difference is mo...